At the Brink: Baseline Data. The Microcomputing Program at Drexel University.

McCord, Joan

Surveys of faculty and students at Drexel University were conducted to assess the effects of the university's decision in late 1982 to require all incoming freshmen to buy computers. A May 1983 survey determined faculty experiences with computers, their teaching preferences, and educational backgrounds. Based on responses from 328 faculty (93%), it was found that most engineers and scientists used computers, and younger faculty were most likely to have computing experience, except in the liberal arts. The fall 1983 survey of freshmen and juniors included measures of anger, anxiety, physical pain, stress, self-esteem, victimization, value orientations, active use of leisure time, and attitudes toward computer-related crimes. Sex differences in exposure to computers were found. Male students were more likely than female students to have: taken computer courses, played computer games, used computers for data analysis or writing, and written computer programs. Among freshmen males, those who had used computers often tended to make active use of their leisure time. Junior men with the most computing experience also tended to be self-confident, optimistic, and to have little anxiety, while for junior women, computing was not associated with self-confidence, optimism, or low anxiety. (SW)